Antithesis
by Nodak701
Summary: What happens when polar opposites, Fred and Hermione, spend time together the summer before the GoF? Watch as they become friends and eventually something more.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to the Burrow

Disclaimer: I'm not JKR. If I was, Dobby would be my house elf.

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Burrow

Hermione has been best friends with Ron for three years now but it still came as a bit of a shock when he owled her to see if she wanted to go to the quidditch world cup and then spend the remainder of the summer at the Burrow. She thought that he would've just invited Harry because she wasn't as enthusiastic about the sport as the two of them. When she said as much in her letter back Ron simply replied, "_You're my best friend, why wouldn't you come?"_

The only other reservation that she had was her father's reaction, "_You can't have a sleepover at a boy's house_!" Ron, surprisingly, fixed that problem as well by having Mrs. Weasley write Hermione's parents a letter saying that she would be sleeping in a camp bed in Ginny's room. Her parents knew that Ron and Harry were her best friends but the fact that she was turning 15 in a few weeks and constantly hung out with only boys was starting to worry her father. Her father knows what teenage boys are like and he was not looking forward to the coming years.

That is how Hermione Granger found herself, a few days later, to be packing up her school trunk in her bedroom waiting for Mr. Weasley to arrive. Mr. Weasley had gotten her parent's fireplace hooked up to the floo network for the evening in order to easily get Hermione and her trunk. At six o'clock on the dot she heard her parents come home from work. She crammed a few more books into her trunk and slammed the lid before she made her way down the stairs.

Her parents were already busily starting dinner. Her mum was chopping onions and tomatoes while her dad was getting a pot of water to boil. This was going to be their last family dinner for quite some time. Hermione started to set the table while chatting idly with her parents. She was going to miss moments like this with them but if she was being honest, she couldn't wait to get to talk to wizards again. She talked to her parents about Hogwarts, mostly about grades and classes, but after the whole "_your daughter was petrified for a few weeks and we didn't tell you about it but she is fine now_" incident, she kind of kept things pretty generic.

The small family sat around their dinner table, eating their pasta, while they discussed the movie that they had seen the previous weekend. As they were finishing up, their hearth emanated a bright green color and a red headed man rolled out with a clunk and a cloud of dust following him. Mr. Weasley stood up and siphoned off the soot with a wave of his wand and looked around the Granger's home with wide excited eyes.

Mr. Weasley could hardly contain his enthusiasm. He was inside of a muggle's house, invited and not on work duty, he could ask questions, and he wouldn't have to obliviate the muggles before he left! He noted that Mr. Granger was putting dirty dinner dishes into a cupboard under the counter and he was about to ask what he was doing when another red head stepped out of the floo.

Hermione was shocked to see that it was one of the twins that had come along to collect her. Hermione would never admit it, but she could not tell Fred and George apart to save her life. She didn't really feel that guilty about it because her interaction with the m was pretty much limited to her throwing the two of them disapproving glances in the common room while they made a ruckus and interrupted her studying. In fact, the last conversation that she had with Fred or George, she didn't know which, was during the quidditch cup after party last term when she was questioning him where he got the butterbeer and food.

"Hey dad, aren't you going to say hello before you start bombarding Mr. and Mrs. Granger with questions?" The twin said, knowing the look on his father's face.

"Right you are my boy," Mr. Weasley chirped, "Good evening Granger family. Now Robert, can you please explain why you are putting dirty dishes into a cupboard before they are washed?"

"This is a dishwasher Arthur, not a cupboard," Robert Granger explained. He was used to Mr. Weasley's strange questions about ordinary things.

"What exactly does a dishwasher do?"

"Um…it washes the dishes."

"Genius, absolutely genius! The things muggles come up with are marvelous if you ask me," Mr. Weasley exclaimed. He wandered over for a closer look.

The twin rolled his eyes and looked over at Hermione, "Hey Hermione, how are you?"

"I'm doing great. I'm all packed and ready to go," replied Hermione.

"That's nice but aren't you going to introduce me to your parents so they don't think that they are sending their daughter off with a random red headed stranger?" Fred asked.

Hermione could have sworn she saw a glint of a challenge in his eyes. "_Dang it_!" she thought, "_He knows I can't tell who he is_." She flushed at the thought. She was just going to have to take a stab in the dark and hope not to make a fool of herself.

"Well, mum and dad, this is one of Ronald's older brothers…George?" she guessed, hoping she sounded a little confident in her introduction.

He smirked backed, "It's nice to formally meet you. I think you might have seen me a few years ago in Diagon Alley but I probably blended in with the rest of our brood."

"Oh yes. How many boys are there in your family again?" Mr. Granger questioned with a frown.

His smile grew even wider, "There are six of us Mr. Granger."

Hermione groaned inwardly, she knew where her father's thoughts were headed. The best thing to do would be to get out of here as fast as possible before her dad could change his mind.

"Alright, I'll just run upstairs and grab my trunk and we can be on our way," Hermione said.

Mr. Weasley looked disappointed at leaving so quickly but clapped his hands and said, "Good, good, now Jean, what is the difference between a wizarding mouse and a muggle mouse? I've heard that muggles like to keep them as pets in their offices?"

Chuckling, Hermione made her way up the stairs to her room. With one last quick look through for anything she might have forgotten, she grabbed the handle on her trunk and turned around preparing to drag it behind her. As she stepped through her door, with her head turned for a last peep at her childhood bedroom, she ran straight into George.

"Oomph."

"Ouch."

"Sorry."

"Excuse me."

"What are you doing up here?" asked Hermione. She was quite embarrassed for him to see her room with the purple walls and the lacy curtains that her mum had insisted on years ago.

"I'm being a gentleman," George started, "I'll carry your trunk for you. After all, that's why I'm here to begin with."

Hermione found that hard to believe, "I was wondering why you got stuck doing this and not Ronald."

George gave an evil grin and said, "He was a bit tied up when it was time to meet you so I volunteered."

"And I bet you and Fred had nothing to do with him being tied up, right?" said Hermione.

"Us? Never! We would never stop little Ronnikins from seeing his best friend," replied George.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like you at all."

"Let's get going then."

They made their way down the stairs. Mr. Weasley was still talking to Mrs. Granger about office supplies while Mr. Granger was anxiously looking at the stairwell.

"There you two are. What took you so long? You know you aren't allowed to have boys in your room Hermione," Mr. Granger snapped.

"Relax dad, we were just getting my trunk," said Hermione, looking annoyed. She went over to her mum and gave her a hug and a kiss on the check. She then went over to her dad and hugged him as well, "I'll write after the world cup to tell you all about it. I love you both."

"Love you too," her parents chimed back.

"Take care of yourself pumpkin," Mr. Granger whispered to Hermione, giving her one last hug.

George clapped Mr. Granger on his back, "Don't worry Mr. G, she has six Weasley brothers to look after her."

"That's what I'm worried about," mumbled Mr. Granger.

George grabbed Hermione's trunk and stepped into the fireplace. With a flash of light and a puff of smoke, he was gone. With a last wave to her parents, Hermione threw down the floo powder and yelled, "The Burrow!" and she was gone.

After a few dizzying seconds, Hermione stumbled out of the Burrow's hearth and right into George's arms. "Thanks," she mumbled with a slight pink tinge on her cheeks.

"No problem, pumpkin," replied George. Hermione blushed even deeper as he smiled mischievously. "Oh by the way, I'm Fred. Welcome to the Burrow."


	2. Chapter 2: Watch out for the Pastries

Disclaimer: I'm not JKR. If I was, Dobby would be my house elf.

Chapter 2: Watch out for the Pastries

Hermione was beyond embarrassed. She knew that she couldn't tell the twins apart but she didn't think that anyone else knew her secret, until now. Fred knew and she was absolutely certain that he would not just let this go. She needed to be prepared for retaliation.

Unbeknownst to Hermione, Fred and George figured out her secret almost a year ago. They first realized her struggle when they all stayed at the Leaky Cauldron before last term, when they got back from Egypt. She would stare at the two of them thinking really hard before saying their name and she still continuously called them by the wrong name. During last school year, whenever she would go on a tirade on them for disturbing the quiet of the common room, she would refrain from calling them by their first names.

They didn't use this knowledge to their advantage last term because they could see her cracking under the pressure of her immense work load. (And thank Merlin they didn't, they heard when she slapped Malfoy!) The twins decided, however, that since she would be spending a few weeks at the Burrow it would be the perfect opportunity to use their knowledge to prank her mercilessly. This was the real reason that Fred pranked Ron so that he could go and fetch Hermione with his dad.

Hermione threw her head back and groaned. With her cheeks still flushed she said, "Sorry about that, it's been awhile since I've seen you."

"It's not like it was the first time that it has happened, or the last," Fred said.

Hermione smiled and then asked, "How come you didn't correct me when I was introducing you to my parents?"

"I didn't want him thinking that his pumpkin was staying with people she doesn't know very well," answered Fred.

Hermione looked skeptically back at Fred and said, "That was very considerate of you Fred, thank you."

"Don't mention it," said Fred, "but I'm sure if I ever needed a favor in the future you could help a friend out after what I just did for you right?"

She knew that she was going to regret it but she agreed, "Sure Fred."

"Wonderful! Since I'm sure my dad is still badgering your parents with questions I don't think we should wait for him so follow me. I'll give you the five knut tour and show you where you will be sleeping," said Fred as he picked up her trunk and started walking. "Now as you can probably tell, this cozy room is our living room. We mostly hang out in here in the evenings to play exploding snap or lose to Ron in wizard's chess. The room flows into the most important part of the house, the kitchen."

Hermione glanced around the kitchen and saw a rather large worn wooden table with benches on either side and a chair on both ends where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley must sit. She also noticed the lack of the muggle refrigerator, dishwasher, and other kitchen electronics that she was used to seeing in a kitchen. Hermione spotted the large grandfather clock that Harry had once told her about it. It had nine hands with each engraved with a family member's name. It did not tell the time, but rather where each person was. Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George's names were all pointing to home and Bill, Charlie, and Percy's names were on work, finally Mr. Weasley's name was on visiting. It was probably the most informative clock that Hermione had ever seen. This was the first wizarding home that she has ever been in and she was fascinated to see how they lived differently from her parents. Off to the side of the kitchen was a door leading to a garden and another that lead to the stairwell.

"Come on, you can gawk at everything later. I need to get this trunk to Ginny's room, it is rather heavy. How many books do you have in here anyways?" asked Fred as he started climbing the stairs.

"Only about 50, I left most of my books back at home," said Hermione.

"50!" Fred exclaimed, "How did you get them all to fit with all of your robes and such?"

"The trunk has an undetectable extension charm and three compartments built in. My parents got it for me as an early birthday gift," she replied.

"That's useful, only it makes it bloody heavy to carry around."

"Language, Fred! Yes, I suppose I will have to put a featherweight charm on it once we get to Hogwarts."

"Yes do that, and in the meantime I will remind George that it is his turn to help you carry it onto the train," Fred said as he came to a stop on the top of the first landing. "Here we are, first floor: Ginny's room and Bill and Charlie's room," Fred motioned to the left and then the right.

Ginny's door was closed and it had a plaque on the front that said "Ginevra's Room" in pink. Without knocking, Fred opened the door and walked right in. Hermione got the sense that there wasn't a whole lot of privacy in this house. Ginny's room was small, but it comfortably fit a twin size bed, a camp bed, and a desk. The walls were painted pink and were covered with posters of the Holyhead Harpies and the Weird Sisters. Ginny's bed was pushed against the wall with the only window. The window gave a lovely view of the back garden and Hermione could smell the flowers since it was popped open.

Ginny was sitting on her bed reading and old copy of _Witch Weekly_ when they barged in. "Hermione," she exclaimed, "you're here!"

"Yes, I just flooed a few minutes ago. Thanks for letting me crash in your room," said Hermione.

"Not a problem. It will be nice to have another girl around after spending all summer with this lot," said Ginny smiling.

Fred set the trunk down at the end of the camp bed. "Oh come on Ginny, you know you love us."

"Sure, but you also forget that I sleep directly below you and George and you keep me awake half the night with random explosions and laughing," Ginny said.

Fred grinned wickedly and said, "If you want we can stop using Ronnikins as our unsuspecting guinea pig and start using you for some of our newer inventions."

"Now let's not get hasty," she replied, "I've been sleeping just fine Fred, no problems at all."

"That's what I thought," He turned his attention back to Hermione. "Do you want to finish the rest of the tour?"

"Yes I would like that. I also need to say hello to Ronald since he is the one who invited me here," Hermione said.

"Ugh, if you must," Fred said jokingly. "I'll never understand why you and Harry willingly spend so much time with him."

"Yeah, he is kind of a git," supplied Ginny.

Hermione laughed, "He can be sometimes but I feel like I should be defending him in this situation. Ok, here goes, he's not that bad most of the time."

All three of them burst into laughter. Fred started back up the stairs, still chuckling. He pointed out rooms as they slowly climbed the steps. On the second floor there was Fred and George's room, which had a do no enter sign on it with their name plate, and Percy's room, again with his own name plaque. The third floor was the only bathroom in the house. Hermione was suddenly thankful for the number of boys since girls tended to take longer getting ready. The fourth floor was the master bedroom where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sleep. Finally the top floor was the attic where Ron's room was. His door was closed and on the front was a sign that said Ronald's Room in bright orange.

Yet again, Fred didn't bother to knock before entering but opened the door right up. Hermione was momentarily blinded by the brightness of the room. Everything was orange. The slanted walls were painted bright orange and had orange Chudley Cannons posters all over them. There was a matching bedspread too. If Ron hadn't been wearing a black shirt he would have blended right in.

"Hey! What do you – Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, "When did you get here?"

"Just a short while ago, Fred was just giving me a quick tour," she answered while she gave him a hug.

"Well don't eat ANYTHING he gives you. They turned me into a canary! That's why I couldn't come and get you. Mum was trying to change me back," Ron said.

"Now Ronnikins," Fred said while he put his arm around Hermione's shoulder, "We would never hurt your dear friend."

"On purpose," Hermione muttered to herself. She was fairly certain that the twins only tested on others once they worked out all of the major kinks in their products. She hoped.

Fred had heard what Hermione had mumbled and winked at her, "Well I'll let you two love birds catch up. Talk to you later 'Mione and watch out for the pastries."


	3. Chapter 3: What You are Getting Into

Disclaimer: I'm not JKR. If I was, Dobby would be my house elf.

Chapter 3: What You are Getting in To

Hermione could not have been any happier to be back at the Burrow. The world cup had been the most wonderful, exciting, terrifying, and shocking experiences of her life. (And that's saying something from being best friends with Harry Potter) For only having been at the Burrow for a few days, it was quickly becoming one of her new favorite places. She loved how cozy every room seemed to be and how it always smelled like something fresh was baking. Every once in a while she would get a sweet waft of flowers from a cracked window and you could always hear the creaking of the stairs from somebody making their way up or down. She loved that the house was full of people. Being an only child whose parents both worked full time, it got to be a bit lonely sometimes. She was really enjoying her last few days of summer with her surrogate family.

The only trying part of staying at the Burrow was the twins. They started to play a new "_game_" with Hermione. Every morning when she went downstairs for breakfast there would be only one of them at the table. He would say, "_Good morning Hermione_" and would wait patiently for her to do the same. On the first morning she guessed right that it was Fred but on the second morning when she incorrectly greeted George, she had a surprise waiting for her back in Ginny's room. They had changed all of her books to be in Spanish so she couldn't read them! She didn't want to tattle on the twins to Mrs. Weasley so she had to wait until that night to ask Bill to fix them.

Now the next morning, Hermione was determined to get it right. She was greeted by a chorus of, "_Good morning Hermione_" from Mrs. Weasley, Harry, and…George? No Fred. No George. She turned to the kitchen table and said, "Good morning, Mrs. Weasley, Harry, George."

She knew she was instantly wrong when Fred gave her that crooked wicket smile. "So close, yet so very, very wrong," he said menacingly.

"You better not mess with my books again or I will get Ginny to teach me her bat bogey hex," warned Hermione.

"And mess up my pretty face? You would dream of it 'Mione!" said Fred.

Hermione frowned, that was the second time that he had called her 'Mione. No one had ever called her that before. She found that she didn't mind it. The only nickname she has ever had is when her dad calls her pumpkin, and this was different than that.

"Harry dear," asked Mrs. Weasley, "Would you mind going up and getting Ron? I'm afraid if he sleeps much longer he won't get any breakfast."

"Sure Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied as he got up and headed to the stairs. As soon as he left, George and Ginny sat down at the table.

"So what's the verdict?" George asked Fred.

"One for two," said Fred.

George grinned and turned to face Hermione. "Well, well, well, we are in trouble," mocked George in a canny impression of Filch.

"Oh leave her alone. Mum can barely tell the two of you apart," said Ginny.

"It's quite alright Hermione. You just haven't spent as much time with them as the rest of us. You'll get it eventually," Mrs. Weasley said to a blushing Hermione.

"Did you hear that 'Mione? You need to spend more time with us," exclaimed Fred.

George added, "You can finally use that powerful brain of your for something useful. You can help us with some of the problems we are having with a few of our inventions."

"Boys!" Mrs. Weasley yelled, "What did I say about Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes? No more nonsense. Hermione you need to knock some sense into them."

Hermione didn't 100 percent agree with Mrs. Weasley's stance but she wasn't about to point that out to her. She did agree, however, that she needed to spend more time with them if she was ever going to tell them apart. "Come on boys, let's go for a walk."

After a nice walk around the garden and make shift quidditch pitch, Hermione was getting a better feel for each twin's personality. It was time to lunch when they got back from their walk already. During lunch the boys decided that they would play quidditch that afternoon. They didn't bother to ask Ginny (little did they know) and Hermione declined and decided to read on the couch for a while.

When the game was finished, Ron was sent to clean up his room. Mrs. Weasley went up there earlier to get the sheets to wash and was appalled by the state up there. Harry offered to help Ginny with dinner so Mrs. Weasley could finish the wash. The twins decided to go and see if Hermione wanted to play a game of exploding snap.

When they entered the living room they found that she had fallen asleep while reading. George turned to Fred with an evil grin on his face. "I've just had the best idea ever."

"Do tell, brother of mine."

"What does Ron do when he is –"

"Told to clean his room? Nap, of course."

"So what if we carried Hermione up to his room and – "

"Put them in the same bed – "

"Together and then send mum up – "

"There to get them caught."

"Genius!"

"Brilliant!"

"Let's do it!" they chorused together.

It was quickly decided that George would distract Harry, Ginny, and their mum while Fred would carry Hermione upstairs. George somehow managed to divert everyone's gaze towards him and not the living room as he told a few jocks while Fred picked up Hermione. He breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't wake but only snuggled into his chest. As he slowly made his way up the stairs, avoiding all the creaks, he noticed the faint smell of lavender in Hermione's hair. When he got to the top floor, Ron was, as predicted, asleep on his bed. Fred laid Hermione down gently next to Ron and dashed downstairs. He didn't think they would have much time until one of them woke up.

Fred nodded to George when he made it safely back downstairs. "Mum," Fred said, "Why don't you check up on Ron. Harry and Ginny can finish up dinner, George can set the table, and I will get Hermione."

"That's a good idea dear. Everyone should be home in a minute so if you all finish up we will be able to eat right away when they all get home," Mrs. Weasley said. She wiped her hands on a towel and headed up the stairs.

Harry and Ginny turned back to the food while Fred and George started put plates on the table. "I thought you told mum you were going to get Hermione?" Ginny asked Fred.

"That won't be necessary," he replied.

"Why not?" asked Harry.

"Just wait for it," Fred and George said at the same time.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?" raged Mrs. Weasley. "THIS IS COMPLETELY IAPPROPRIATE!"

"Mum we weren't – "

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! WE TRUSTED YOU!"

"Mum we don't know – "

"THIS IS TOTALLY UNFITTING BEHAVIOR! JUST WAIT UNTIL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME!"

"We didn't do anything. Please listen to – "

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

This went on for quite some time. Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and Percy had all come home and now the large group was all standing in the kitchen laughing hysterically as Fred and George told them what they had done.

Mr. Weasley eventually decided to take pity on Ron and Hermione and headed upstairs to sort things out. A few minutes later the four of them came down the stairs. Mrs. Weasley was still fuming, Mr. Weasley was smiling slightly, Ron was bright red, and Hermione looked like she had been crying. The room was completely silent as they entered the room. "What is everyone doing? Sit down, sit down, dinner is ready," said Mrs. Weasley.

Everybody scrambled to have a seat at the table. Hermione squeezed in between Harry and one of the twins, not looking anyone in the eye. Hermione was completely mortified and wished that she was anywhere else but here at the moment. The last thing she wanted was for Mrs. Weasley to be mad at her, she was guest in her house and she had upset her. Hermione was sure that she would be asked to go home immediately after dinner.

Once everybody started eating and talking again, Fred leaned over and whispered to Hermione, "Never going to make that mistake again are you?"

"Oh you are so dead," said Hermione.

"Just as long as you know which person you are killing," joked Fred.

"Don't worry, I've learned my lesson," Hermione spat back.

That evening after dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sat Ron and Hermione down in the living room for a chat, then came the most embarrassing conversation that Hermione or Ron had ever had. Having to sit next to Ron while his parents explained what happens when witches and wizards love each other and the charms to use was the most humiliating experience of either of their lives. Hermione had no idea how she was ever going to look Ron in the eye ever again.

As soon as the talk was done, Ron ran up to his room where Harry was hiding out. Hermione stayed and apologized to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for making them upset. "I know it wasn't your fault dear," said Mrs. Weasley, "and I'm sorry for being so harsh and jumping to conclusions when I saw you. I know that you are embarrassed right now but I am glad that we got to have this chat. Being a muggle born, you do not hear about the charms growing up and they don't teach them at Hogwarts until sixth year and, quite frankly, that is too late for some people. If you have any more questions in the future I want you to know you can always come to us Hermione."

"Thanks," mumbled Hermione, "I think I'll head up to Ginny's room now."

"Good night, dear," said Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione got up and headed for the stairs. Unfortunately, she had to walk through the kitchen to get to there and Bill and Charlie were still sitting at the table having a firewhiskey. She knew they were laughing at her as she stormed through the room but she refused to acknowledge them. She marched up the stairs with a purpose but passed Ginny's room and continued to the second floor. She stopped there and banged on the twin's door.

"May we help you?" Fred answered the door with a smile.

"Why did you do that to me?" Hermione pleaded.

"Because the opportunity presented itself and of course, every young witch and wizard needs to be well informed, if you catch my drift."

"Yes, but NOT by your best friend's parents, especially after they catch the two of us in bed together! It was so humiliating."

"Yes that was a nice little bonus wasn't it?"

"I'm so getting you back once we get back to Hogwarts."

"I'm looking forward to it 'Mione. You have no idea what you are getting in to."


End file.
